As a faith(fai) or intelligence(int), what stat do you focus on first?

[cl656]

As a faith(fai) or intelligence(int) caster, do you put all of your points into fai/int until it is where you want it, and then focus on things like mind and vigor?

I'm just curious how other people go about building their casters.

[Carnwennan]

well, I do not care about pvp, so take that in mind. my priority is stats for weapons/armor I want> vigor/mind/endurance to 20> casting stat to 35 and then for every 3 points in casting put one into each of vigor and mind. once I hit the first casting softcap at 60 I get my vigor and mind to 45, and maybe some more points into endurance before going to 80 for casting.

[KruxSmash]

Vigor

[ChrisPharmD]

You focus on survival until you clear Ranalla and then you respec.

[Nihrahk]

You don't focus solely on those stats, because that would be a mistake. Vigor and mind are very important, because it would be most unfortunate if the spell you tried to cast was too expensive for you. Also, you need that vigor even as a caster. You wouldn't want to get one shot by an arrow, now would you?

[Slim Jong Un]

Some of the Best Spells:
Glintstone Pebble: 10 INT
Comet Azure: 60 INT
Rock Sling: 18 INT

Some of the Best Incantations:
Frenzied Burst: 22 FTH
Flame, Cleanse Me: 12 FTH
Poison Mist: 12 FTH
Lightning Spear: 17 FTH
Rotten Breath: 15 FTH (12 ARC)

Personally I go more heavily on faith since there's more utility. Frenzied burst is great for sniping mobs, lightning spear is very fast and safe to use, along with decent tracking and range.

Edit: as the others said, Vigor always takes precedent.

[Crim]

Int till 60 then alternate between mind/vigor/int. The sooner you get comet azur the sooner your life gets a lot easier. Don't forget to grab meteorite staff/ rock sling at the start.

[SmallGespenst]

Mind is a big luxury stat so I leave it completely alone 'till I'm done with other stats. get attack stats to requirements mixed with getting to 20-ish Vigour to survive early game, then 40 Vig, then high scaling stat (st/dex/fai/int) then you level mind. seriously, it can't be understated how worthless mind is in the early game, especially when it's early levels give pathetic stat yields.
(also endurance exists I guess? better armour provides very little damage reduction and stamina recharges fast enough that it's rarely a problem, so I find it hard to justify any investment in endurance at all.)

[Veltan]

I went int to 60 (with burger king helmet) first, then put a few points into dex to use a weapon I wanted, then MND, VIG, a small bit of END, now pumping int to 80. Honestly with the amount of areas you can go to that arent overly punishing to caster builds you can scrape by with lower health for a LONG time.

[Nihrahk]

Originally posted by SmallGespenst:

Mind is a big luxury stat so I leave it completely alone 'till I'm done with other stats. get attack stats to requirements mixed with getting to 20-ish Vigour to survive early game, then 40 Vig, then high scaling stat (st/dex/fai/int) then you level mind. seriously, it can't be understated how worthless mind is in the early game, especially when it's early levels give pathetic stat yields.
(also endurance exists I guess? better armour provides very little damage reduction and stamina recharges fast enough that it's rarely a problem, so I find it hard to justify any investment in endurance at all.)

The end stat is mostly your Elden Bling stat. More end = more options for Elden Bling.

[Branthrax]

Int because Incantations are mostly garbage and take ages to cast. Rotten Breath is the only one worth using and that scales off Arcane.

[Nihrahk]

Originally posted by Branthrax:

Int because Incantations are mostly garbage and take ages to cast. Rotten Breath is the only one worth using and that scales off Arcane.

Only if you use the dragon communion seal.

[p30pl3h4t3m3]

i balanced vigor, mind, endurance and int to the same level, than just level on a rotation basis. but i use all tools, wear heavy armor, oversized weapons, shields and use magic only to kill big stuff. but i farm a lot, if i reach 1/3-1/2 runes of a level, i just farm the rest before going on. still in the first playtrough, trying to find & do all stuff blindly, still in the capital atm and reached level 255 meanwhile... broke some quests for sure by killing npcs, but who cares, see you again in ng+.

totally overleveld, but mostly bosses are first try. i only play one character and just keep playing ng+ until i get bored... so most of my souls chars end up lvl 500+

[ressenmacher]

Everything goes into vig first.

Then the damage stat, because that influences both melee and spell damage.

Then mind up to the max restoration of my flasks, for efficiency's sake.

Then mopping up with end, more vig, whatever.